Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates generally to communication networks and, more particularly, to software defined networking.
Description of the Related Art
Routers in a conventional network include control plane functionality and data plane functionality. The control plane functionality configures a flow table that indicates how to process incoming packets and the data plane functionality processes the incoming packets, e.g., based on rules defined in the flow table. Software defined networking (SDN) differs from conventional router networks in that the control plane functionality is implemented in a central controller used to control a plurality of switches that implement data plane functionality. Consolidating the control plane functionality for a group of switches into the central controller allows an SDN network to support dynamic resource allocation and may significantly reduce the costs associated with establishing and maintaining the SDN network when compared to a conventional network. SDN also allows for global optimization that is not possible with local routing protocols.